SDC

Thursday, June 2, 2011

I had a really nice Memorial Day weekend - lots of food was available but I didn't overly gorge myself on 'non-survivor' type food. For example, I cooked up a whole mess of fluke from the previous fishing trip. But I cooked it the way I like it. I seasoned it, dredged in flour, egg wash (with chicken-laid eggs), and then breadcrumbs. Then it was into a mixture of butter and canola oil for frying. Talk about delicious. It's hard to beat a fresh fluke fry. (say that 5 times fast).
Shoprite had a sale on GIANT lobsters! $4.99 per pound. So for $35 I picked up a 7 pound lobster. I grilled it with butter and shared it with the rest of the family. We also had steamers and a couple nice salads. That was the bulk of my weekend food. The 'junk' that I ate consisted of a couple chocolate Hagen-Das bars and a couple other nibbles of cookies and other sweets - but not over the top.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Ah ha! - I bet I suckered you right in with the title of this post. No, I didn't kill the chickens. They are both alive and well in their coop - giving me two eggs every day. As a matter of fact I had two scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning. Yum. A nice start to DAY 40 - yipee!

Last night I had a couple pieces of broiled fluke over rice with a little butter and salt. I also broiled that blowfish that I caught - it was REALLY tasty. I wouldn't mind getting a bunch of them. It was small but the meat was nice and white and a little sweeter than the bass or fluke that I have been eating. I got a little variety yesterday. Pretty cool huh? Tomorrow morning I'm planning on testing out the crabbing grounds - that would be a nice Memorial Day survivor food feast - some breaded fluke and a pot of garlic crabs. That's what I'm picturing for Saturday afternoon.

more to come. . .

"The end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us."

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Day 39 - WOW! Day 39! Can you believe it? Another SDC is almost in the books. I usually take this time to reflect a little about what I did, what I learned and what new life experiences I encountered on my journey. Unfortunately, I just don't feel like doing that right now. I'm beat. I'm tired. And most of all, I'm hungry.

I'm not hungry in the sense that I'm starving or feel like I need more food to survive - so don't misunderstand. I'm hungry for

Beautiful day Wednesday - finally! My day off - and the sun came out. I had read some very good fluke reports from the past weekend and today was an opportunity to give it a try before the boat traffic and fishing pressure gets too intense. After Memorial Day it gets very crowded with many boats in the water and many people fishing. It is difficult to get the fish to bite.
Dad came up at 7 am and after I made a quick breakfast/lunch with some striped bass, we were off to see if the fluke would be cooperative. The plan was to head for the Navesink River

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Eggs for breakfast and a bag of fish jerky to take to work as a snack. I'm starting to look at my chickens and actually see them spinning on a rotisserie with well seasoned, crispy skin. So apparently I haven't gotten too attached to them as 'pets' yet.

Breakfast

I looked at the weather report for tomorrow and the forecast is quite good. I think I will give Dad a call to see if he would like to come up to explore some new fluke spots or possibly do some crabbing. Either way - I'm going fluking tomorrow.

Monday, May 23, 2011

A quick scrambled egg for breakfast and it was off to work to start a new week. Wouldn't you guess it - pouring rain this morning on the drive. I'd much rather have it raining on a Monday though. All of this water is going to make for some really nice gardens in a month or two. I bet the corn this year is going to be fantastic! And the tomatoes - we are well known in Jersey for our corn and tomatoes in July and August. I just hope the crabbing is even half as good as it was last season. No sign of them yet though.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Well, our forecast for a beautiful Sunday turned into a rainy, dreary, cold, uncomfortable May 22. Go figure. I had a softball game in the morning followed by. . . whoops - forgot about my radio show again. I realized it at about 12:25 which left me with a 5 minute show. I spoke fast and crammed a bunch of information into 5 minutes but I don't think anyone was listening - so what's the difference? No one has given me ANY feedback on the radio show. I did it as a trial to see if it would generate additional attention but I don't think it did. I will do one more show at the finish just to sum everything up.

I managed to spend some time in the yard fixing up the chicken coop and

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Today was finally a beautiful day outside and I tried to make the most of it. I went to the beach for my third spearfishing excursion of the year and was not disappointed. I was a bit hesitant at first because the previous days of wind and stormy weather really churned up the surf. It usually takes a few days of calm seas to settle things down and clear up the water enough to dive. So although it looked great on the surface, what was below the surface could have been a different story all together.

Somehow the water was quite clean. In fact, the visibility was the best that I have seen all year

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Today I was busy at work for the majority of the day and it helped to take my mind off of food. I managed to finish up my fish jerky after trying to make it last as long as possible. So that's all gone. I have one more piece of fresh bass fillet that I will have to use very soon. I also have the fins and bellies that I need to grill but it has been raining non stop at night - I just haven't had the opportunity. I don't want to lose those pieces - I will try again tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Recently I have been reading some of the Survivor forums online and I have also been posting my SDC onto one or two of them to see what type of response I would get. One forum in particular (Thanks Betsy) has been voicing a pretty strong opinion. Surprisingly it is called SurvivorSucks.com and the weblink to my post in this forum is: The Survivor Diet Challenge - who's up for it?

Check it out when you have some time. One response has raised some pretty good questions about the SDC and I took some time to address these questions on the forum. I thought it would be a good message to post on today's blog as well - since I took all that time writing it and all. I think you'll find it interesting:

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

After 30 days - I have figured it all out. Here it is. Are you ready? You have to REALLY be ready to hear this or else you're not going to believe it, want it, or do it. Ok - now that I have your attention and you are primed for the information - let's get to it.
The Secret to Losing Weight (and keeping it off) is. . .

Monday, May 16, 2011

Back to the grind at work today. I had bunch of food ideas on my mind from my latest catch. For breakfast I had 2 sushi bass rolls mixed with fresh greens that are finally popping out of my garden. Ya-Hoo! I also received another small gift from my chickens today - I'm planning on using the two eggs I have acquired in my fish preparation for dinner.

I had a weigh in today and I am at 183 pounds down from 202 at the start. That's 19 pounds lost in 29 days. My weight loss has significantly slowed in the past 2 weeks but it's still coming off and I expected that to happen.

Back to food - Rather than go on and on with writing, I took a bunch of photos today of my food options. I made some nice looking dishes for lunch and tried something new for dinner. I find that it always helps when I try to make food visually appealing as well. Read on. . .

Sunday, May 15, 2011

I had an interesting dinner tonight. After thoroughly cleaning my catch from yesterday, I noticed that the liver from this big striped bass was pretty large, clean and didn't look too different from chicken liver. Why not give it a try? I like chicken liver and certainly foie gras on occasion - sauteed up in a pan with some butter and salt - actually, anything in a pan with butter and salt is pretty good isn't it? I sliced it up, and after the blood stopped oozing out. . .

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Had a couple surprises today - both in a good way. I'll start off by saying that one of my chickens laid her first egg! How about that. It was a cute little brown egg. My daughter, Jamie was with me at the time of discovery and we were so excited! Needless to say it hung around long enough for a couple pictures, a couple thank yous to the chickens and then into the frying pan - over easy. The freshest egg I have EVER eaten. It tasted really good. I'm not sure I would have been able to really set it apart from other eggs all together (Debbie always gets farm fresh eggs anyhow) but it was better because my chickens laid it. And that's all there is to it.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Day 24 and 25 were accidentally erased by this Blogger website. Hopefully they will return. I did a lot of typing and posted a lot of photos - crap. I'll give it another day before re-posting.

I woke up this morning and thought I would check for eggs in the chicken pen before going to work. Well wouldn’t you know it – one of the chickens was out and about in my backyard. The cats had her under control though. She wasn’t going anywhere. And when I opened the gate to the pen, she walked right in – no coaxing needed. But how did it get out again? I did even more reinforcing of the walls, the gate and the fishing line across the top today. I’d like to see one try to escape now!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Breakfast - sashimi bass slices. I also nibbled on some jerky and brought some with me to work. I'm going to have a tough time rationing that stuff - it's so good.
I was planning on going home for lunch and riding my bike back to work for the afternoon. However, when I got home the chickens were gone.

Busy busy today! Lots of activity - lots of pictures. Day off from work.
I started my day with a nice plate of sashimi for breakfast. It's really good stuff. Nice and tender - see through thin slices of bass. My only problem is fending off the kids (who want to eat it just as much as I do). They are not so understanding that this is my ONLY source of food.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

First off I want to extend a big THANK YOU to Wendy for letting me raid her garden. I got a couple nice big leaks, some lettuce, spinach and some other greenery. Thanks Wendy.
I spent at least a couple hours scaling, butchering and prepping those two nice striped bass from yesterday. They sat on ice for 24 hours and then I tried to make every part count (except for the guts - although the liver may have been worth a try??).

Monday, May 9, 2011

It was a looooooonnnnnnngggggg day yesterday. I pulled out all the stops and with some cooperative weather I was able to go spearfishing in the afternoon. It was pretty awesome too. I saw lots of fish - big striped bass. I shot 2 of them and probably saw another 10 as well as some blackfish and some sting rays. I think it's time for me to store away my fishing rods in the garage indefinitely because they just don't work for me.
I had a really fun time for over 2 hours but afterwards it felt like someone knocked me over with a sledge hammer. The water was super calm as you can see from the 5 minute video - but there was a very strange and quite strong current moving everything out to sea and down the beach. Yikes! I didn't even realize it until I was pretty far away from where I had started.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day.
I took my boat out at 5:30 am this morning to get in a couple hours of fishing before my 10:00 softball game. Guess what? I suck at fishing. Why do I even bother? I drove around like an idiot for about 30 miles. I went all the way to Staten Island and back. Oh and I saw plenty of other boats and people catching all kinds of fish! The fish are there - I just don't have a clue how to catch them. And furthermore, I get VERY frustrated, VERY easily now. My fuse is so short it's ridiculous. One thing goes wrong out there and I'm ready to break my fishing poles in half. I'm a mess - and I need some help.
I finally found some baitfish today. I did wind up catching 2 bunker for bait but nothing else. For those who don't know, bunker are very oily baitfish and can not be eaten by people. The stripers and bluefish usually like them though. And the crabs do too - I should really 'test' to see if any crabs will be cooperative this early. I doubt it but you never know.

I was spoiled on my last Survivor Diet Challenge. The fish were much more cooperative. I just keep trying and trying but nothing I do seems to work. It reminds me of when I used to live in Rhode Island. I kept going fishing but never came home with any fish. Over and over and over again. Until one day I decided that was it! I wasn't going to take it any longer. I needed to make a significant change in the way that I fished. One thing that I did was go out on a boat with a friend who was a commercial fisherman. He taught me about fluke fishing (in Rhode Island) but the tactics don't seem to work here. The other thing I did was put my fishing poles away and learn how to spearfish.
It's time for another significant change. The tactics I am using here are not working and rather than make the same mistakes day after day, I need to learn from my mistakes and make a change. The information I got from the local tackle shop the other day was pretty accurate. I did locate a school of baitfish in the Navesink River. I didn't have time to fish them properly though.
I haven't had a substantial meal in a long time. I don't know how it's possible but I really do feel fine. I am a bit hungry and I could easily eat a horse - but I don't HAVE to yet. Maybe once I get to that point I will start making some big changes in my tactics. For example, I'm thinking about getting a couple chickens so I can get their eggs. I know it's a stretch for the the Survivor Diet but I'm still thinking about it.
Desperate times - gotta go make a change.

"Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door."

Friday, May 6, 2011

Another beautiful day outside today. I was able to do some significant grazing in the backyard at lunch time where I accumulated a variety of greenery for a big salad (sans dressing). Together with a cup of seasoned brown rice, I filled up my belly quite a bit this afternoon.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Back to work today and wouldn't you know it. . . the sky opens up, the clouds part and the sun comes out. Beautiful spring day. And I'm stuck at work. Am I a complainer or what??? Well, no more. I'm not going to talk about how unlucky I have been with the weather forecast any longer. Just going to keep moving forward and make the best of each day's situation. There - I feel better already.
Food. Let's talk about food for a minute.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Wednesday - day off from work. It wasn't raining early in the morning so I took a quick ride up to the beach to check it out. Unfortunately, the tide was super high and the water was too rough to fish. Boy do I hate that. I have to gear all up in my waders and drive over there just to see that I can't even fish. I should be able to use the surf webcam to see that before I even decide to go. It started to rain shortly after that.
I went to the local tackle shop to see if I could get some information about where the heck all the fish are. Since I can't find them and I can't fish in the storm, maybe I can get some valuable intel. I talked with the shop owner about bait, lures, locations, etc. He told me that I should be trying in the Navesink rather than the Shrewsbury river. It's not too far away so the next time I'm out there I'll give it a try.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Day 16 is so close to Day 15 that you might as well just read the post from yesterday all over again. . .
Long day at work. Nothing to eat but a bag of beans. Came home. Hopped into the boat to try some fishing. No fish. I suck at fishing.
Day off tomorrow and guess what folks - weather forecast is for rain and wind and cold all day long! What a surprise. This is really a test for me. I suppose I could try to find some food in the rain. But come on already. Enough is enough. I was even considering going out on a party boat for some stripers tomorrow. But I'm not going out into the ocean in a storm. Nobody enjoys that.
So what am I going to do tomorrow??? I don't have a clue. Radio show scheduled at noon. Sorry for such boring posts. It will get better soon.

"Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.”

Monday, May 2, 2011

After a long day at work with nothing but water and a bag of navy beans I got home and took the boat into the river to try my luck at fishing again. I had 2 bluefish bites - no hookups. I spent about 2 and a half hours out there.
I keep nibbling on that chocolate bar - but at this rate it's not going to last very long.

Oh how good chocolate tastes when you deprive yourself for a while

It's starting to get VERY real - this survivor diet. My will power is still strong. That's all I have left. This is a short report because that is all that I have had to eat all day. Oh - forgot to mention the wonderful smell of rotisserie chicken when I walked into the kitchen tonight. Mmmmmm. It probably tasted soooo good!
I haven't scheduled the radio show make-up yet but I'm shooting for Wed. at noon if anyone's interested. Maybe I'll try the beach in the early morning.
Spirits low. . .
Energy waning. . .

Sunday, May 1, 2011

First and foremost - I lost track of time today and forgot completely about the radio show that was scheduled at 12 noon. Sorry to all of my loyal listeners (if there are any?) for this oversight. I will make it up by doing a broadcast this Wednesday. I will try for 12 noon but before I commit I will see if that time slot is available. Geez - my third show and I already forgot about it.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

I was eager to wake up this morning to get to the beach and try some surf fishing. When I got there, shortly before 7, the tide was way up and it was rough. Not terrible - but rough. There were about 8 other fishermen in the same spot. I didn't see anyone catching anything. I had a hard time casting out beyond the breakers and after about 20 minutes I called it quits. Not worth the effort. I could really feel myself dragging too. As I walked down the beach in the sand, I felt weak and sluggish and I could only attribute this to lack of food.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Having doubts about my ability to complete this challenge. As my sources for food grow scarce, my desire for other peoples food intensifies. I've said it before but the hardest part about this whole thing is being around other people eating normally and especially watching the kids waste all kinds of food. It kills me when I see someone throw out half a sandwich because they, "didn't really like it that much" or "didn't realize that they weren't as hungry as they thought when they ordered it." Ahh - I wish I could be a garbage picker! I'd be fine just following my kids around all day.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

If you're a runner, you know what it means to hit 'the wall.' You start out really well, full of energy and enthusiasm. You're steadily going along pretty smoothly and without a problem but then all of a sudden your body puts on the brakes. Lifting your legs one after the other feels like a chore. The mental game kicks into high gear and your pain body is fed by all kinds of negative emotions and feelings.

That was me today. I looked at the trout in the fridge and didn't even want to get it out to cook. Glanced over to the three remaining clams and was a little repulsed. Beans and rice - blahch! My thoughts: "Why am I doing this to myself?" "I'm only a quarter way through and I can't stand any of the food I have." "Why do these kids keep leaving out their Easter candy?!" "Boy that bowl of fruit looks good." Boy that (fill in the blank with any food item) looks and smells so good." "What was I thinking?" All of these thoughts are just feeding my pain body. And it's growing. This is my first wall.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Wednesday - my day off from work. Lots to do today to get prepared for the upcoming days. I have been seeing several people fishing in the evening hours right before sundown. I presume they are trying for striped bass because it is time for the spring run of bass and bluefish into the river and oceans. That's a good sign for me and the SDC. However, the forecast, once again is looking lick crap and the wind and rain will be here later today. Talk about April showers. I have resolved to return to Mohawk Pond in Red Bank to see if any more trout are biting. Honestly though (and I didn't think I would say this) I'm starting to get sick of trout. I caught those 6 fish on Sunday morning and it seems like that has been all I have been living on. There's only so much more I can take - even with the butter.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Today was a very busy day at work. I didn't have much for breakfast (warm water and some broccoli greens) and didn't prepare any lunch because I was planning on coming home for lunch and broiling up a trout. However, the day got ahead of me and I never made it home for lunch. Because it was so busy my mind and my body were preoccupied and it went by rather quickly. I didn't get too hungry. I drank a lot of water. It was all ok. Then, when I arrived home from work I had a nice broiled trout dinner to look forward to.

Monday, April 25, 2011

One week is in the books. After surviving one week I am rewarding myself with a pound of butter and a small jar of rice seasoning. And oh how nice it is to have some butter! I still don't have any salt - more out of laziness than anything at this point. I will get some soon from the sea. To be able to cook with some butter and some seasoning is making such a big difference - especially with trout. I have been recalling memories from my childhood - going camping with my dad, catching trout and cooking them in a cast iron pan over the campfire - drenched in butter! Trout taste pretty good on their own but throw a little butter in the pan and it takes it to a whole new level.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter everyone! Boy could I go for a hard boiled egg right now. Oh look, there are 4 dozen of them on my breakfast table. Maybe next year I can raise a couple of chickens so I have some eggs for this challenge. Don't think I haven't thought of that yet. It was actually suggested by a few people so I will keep that in mind for next time.

Do you think this article was directed towards me?

The kids had their egg hunt this morning, collected a bunch of candy filled plastic eggs and proceeded to eat gummy worms for breakfast. I had to get outta there. It was about 7:45 and guess what folks - the weather finally broke! Sunshine and warmth - what a great start for the day. I debated whether to go to the pond to try for trout, AGAIN, or to check out the ocean to see if any striped bass would cooperate. It was basically a coin flip and the pond in Red Bank won - I would give this place one more chance before giving up on it for good.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Day 6 is Saturday. Finally a weekend to get some serious surviving done. I need to get a stash of food for the weekend and the beginning of next week. Only problem - rain, rain, rain - just about all day long. Also, this is Easter weekend and we have plans for both days to do some traveling to visit family. So if something is going to get done, it's going to have to get done in the rain.
Jamie wanted to go driving so I used this as an opportunity to take her back to the pond in Red Bank (which was supposed to be stocked yesterday) to see if the elusive trout would be cooperative today. She used it as an opportunity to negotiate a trip to Jersey Mike's Subs for a turkey sub with the works! This was my first turkey battle of the day. By battle I mean battle of will power not to 'gobble' it all up.

Friday, April 22, 2011

You're not going to believe what I caught. I caught a cold and a sore throat from my kids! Sheesh. Not feeling all that good on day 5 - but not feeling all that bad either. I had my clam breakfast (same as yesterday) and brought some rice and beans into work.
For those who didn't realize it, there are two of us posting to this blog. I have added my DP initials to the titles on my posts after the day number so the readers don't get confused.
I was asked an interesting question today about the Survivor Diet.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Well, in my modified version of this adventure, I pan fried some frozen flounder today, and if was delicious. I am feeling really good, no headache at all. I think just eliminating all of the prepared foods has been really making me feel different. I usually eat only healthy prepared foods, and usually they are gluten free as well, but none the less- they are not food that I would be able to "find" growing. I am referring to all of the lentil chips, millet flax chips, olive-multigrain chips etc. hummus, even yogurt. I love all of them so much- but do I really "need" them- obviously not. Eating for pleasure is out of my life for the duration of this experiment- and it changes EVERYTHING! I am really looking at this as a lifestyle change, and I am surprisingly comfortable with it. I will eat a small portion of my oats tomorrow morning, as I have to go to the gym for medicine ball class. This class is tough and if I do not have enough carbs before it i will pass out. Other than that, I will eat my baby lettuce and perhaps some more fish. I am off all next week and plan to attempt to catch some fish- as my first attempt did not work in my favor. I think the trout have all been caught in Mac's Pond. Signing off, shelly.

Pretty uneventful so far. Woke up, had a fancy bowl of clam and rice for breakfast with a little kale thrown in. I was planning on having sushi today as part of my weekly allowance of 1 sushi lunch (see Official Guidelines) at work. But one thing led to another and I got busy at work around lunch time and missed my opportunity. How much does that suck? I didn't bring in anything prepared so I was left with nothing but a tall glass of water for lunch. I have to be a little smarter than that.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Does history always repeat itself? I'm glad that I have last year's blog to refer to because my head is pounding right now and I think I know why. See "The Headache" and you'll understand. Unfortunately after reading this it may also mean that there is no relief in sight until tomorrow - hopefully. Ugh! Is there anything more miserable than a headache? I really don't think so. People who don't get them just can't understand - people that get them know exactly what I'm talking about.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Sometimes even the best laid plans don't work very well. I don't know what I was thinking starting this on a Monday. Note to future self - start on a Saturday! This would have given me time to gather and stockpile at least a couple of days worth of supplies. Now I am stuck at work and can't do anything except think of food. And don't get me started on breakfast today - here's a nice photo I took of my breakfast:

Here we go again! I have officially turned into a fat bastard again over the winter and am ashamed to admit that my scale hit the 204 pound mark today! That's right - time to go into Survivor mode.

For anyone who is new to reading this blog, here's a quick link to The Beginning from last year. It will give you a pretty good background understanding about what the Survivor Diet Challenge is, and what is involved.
I am VERY excited to have at least one, maybe two, maybe three other challengers this year. I will be very curious to see how resourceful they become and I hope to learn a thing or two from their efforts. I commend you for taking on the challenge!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

So I am preparing mentally for 40 days that lie ahead of me. I have agreed to try this with my friend Doug because he is always so excited about it and it has definately peaked my curiosity. I have also never watched survivor, but I always love a challenge. I think that there is much to be gained from this exercize in self dicipline. I will be altering a couple of the rules slightly, as I am not the avid fisherwoman or hunter. (I am hoping to find some time in my busy schedule to learn to do both) I have a feeling I will learn to appreciate all of the delicious food that I have access to, and that I take for granted. Maybe my grocery bills will even go down after this experience. I have raided all of my cabinets to find some items to substitute for the beans and rice ration. Over the past year I have picked up so many funky grains in my gluten free efforts, but have not cooked them! I intend to use them now, a random bag of Brown Teff, some Quinoa, half a bag of brown rice, an opened but never used bag of aduki beans, half a bag of black beans, and a small bag of purple rice! I am going to add another bag of beans whenever i get to the store, and that will be it. Way to clean out my pantry! I will look forward to my pound of butter reward at the end of this week, and a spice for my rice. I am feeling like this is not going to be VERY difficult, but we shall see!!!!!!